The invention relates to pharmaceutical containers and, more particularly, to a pharmaceutical container tray for storing multiple doses of a pharmaceutical product.
Pharmaceutical container trays often are used for storing multiple doses of a pharmaceutical product. For example, a tray may comprise a plurality of compartments wherein each compartment stores a daily dosage of a prescription drug. Typically, the compartments are arranged in rows and columns, and each row or column of compartments is covered by a plastic strip which slides along a channel.
When access to a particular compartment is desired, the plastic strip is slid along the channel to expose that compartment. However, in order to access the compartments toward the end of the row or column, it is necessary to remove the strip almost completely from the channel. This increases the risk that the strip will become misaligned and jam in the channel or be pulled out completely. As a result, the container is difficult to manipulate, and the number of compartments comprising a row or column is constrained by the practical length of the strip.
Another shortcoming of known container trays is that the slide and channel are not sufficiently sealed for protecting the contents from contamination by extraneous liquids, solids, or vapors, from loss of the drug, and from efflorescence, deliquescence, or evaporation under the ordinary or customary conditions of handling, shipment, storage, or sale. This is particularly true after the container is first opened. because access to the first compartment in a row usually exposes the remaining compartments to the ambient environment.
Most known container trays also are not sufficiently light-resistant for preventing deterioration of the contents beyond the official limits of strength. quality, or purity, Typically, the slide or base of the tray is transparent, and this allows ambient radiation to readily pass through, Sometimes, the slide or base of the tray is constructed of an opaque material, but the material used may be incapable of suppressing the passage of radiation in the ultraviolet spectrum which also deteriorates the product,
Another shortcoming of conventional container trays is that they are reusable, and hence they frequently show no evidence of having been opened or tampered with, If a container is designed so as to show evidence of having been opened or tampered with, then the container ordinarily is incapable of any reuse, thus requiring the patient to purchase another container each time a prescription is filled, Consequently, the patient must spend more money for each prescription.
Finally, trays filled with prescription drugs must ordinarily be accompanied by instructions or charts for their use with a particular drug. Such printed material is usually kept separate from the container and is subject to being misplaced or otherwise lost. When this material is unavailable, treatment of the patient may be undermined.